CHARLOTTE, NC - MAY 24: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #22 Discount Tire Ford, races during the NASCAR Nationwide Series History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 22 Ford, is fifth in this season's NASCAR Sprint Cup standings and has seven top-five finishes in 15 races.

Photo: Jerry Markland, Getty Images

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 22 Ford, is fifth in this...

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CHARLOTTE, NC - MAY 24: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #22 Discount Tire Ford, stands on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Nationwide Series History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Will Schneekloth/Getty Images)

CHARLOTTE, NC - MAY 24: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #22 Discount Tire Ford, pits during the NASCAR Nationwide Series History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Will Schneekloth/Getty Images)

A fear of bridges since childhood prompted Brad Keselowski to ride a bike across the Golden Gate Bridge this week "to tackle my fear ... head-on."

Now he'd like to conquer Sonoma Raceway, "probably my weakest track on the circuit."

He hasn't finished better than 10th in four starts in the Toyota/Save Mart 350, but he has drawn inspiration from the victories of other NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers who previously had trouble on road courses, such as Kasey Kahne (who won in 2009), Clint Bowyer (2012) and Martin Truex Jr. (2013).

Different drivers have won the past nine races at Sonoma. "Sounds like I've got as good a shot as anybody," Keselowski said.

Keselowski, 30, still doesn't think he's part of what he calls NASCAR's "old-boy network" because he's in only his fifth full-time season in Sprint Cup. Even winning the title in 2012 didn't get him into club, he said. "It got me closer."

This season, he stands fifth in points with seven top-five finishes in 15 races, including a win at Las Vegas. In the past three weeks, he has had two seconds and a third.

One of those second-place finishes came at Pocono, where he was foiled by debris - possibly a hot-dog wrapper - that lodged on the grill of his No. 2 Ford. Leading with five laps to go, he tried to tailgate Danica Patrick in an effort to dislodge it, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. passed him and won.

Team Penske has put much greater emphasis on Sonoma than in the past to give Keselowski a solid chance in Sunday's race, building a car essentially for the road-course layout.

"We used to come with a generic car," he said. Laughing, he added, "And we ran like we brought a generic car whenever we came here."

In contrast, he has three top-five finishes in four starts at the circuit's other road course, Watkins Glen, N.Y. , which he calls "probably my strongest track."

Sonoma Raceway, which he refers to by its old name, Sears Point, is much different from Watkins Glen, he said. In addition to the 160 feet in elevation changes at Sonoma, "the surface here is a lot coarser and creates a lot of tire wear. And the track lacks any high-speed sectors or banking."

He likened racing at Sonoma to "going through the Walmart parking lot as fast as you could," only with very tight corners and "no chance to build up any speed." At Watkins Glen, drivers can go more than 180 mph. At Sonoma, there's only one stretch where they can exceed 130, he said.

It's more of a finesse track, he said. "It doesn't seem to reward aggressiveness."

Many Sprint Cup drivers have greatly improved their road-course skills in the past decade, but Keselowski says winning at the various tracks on the circuit requires extraordinary versatility.

He says it would be like asking Peyton Manning to play quarterback one week, tight end the next, running back the next and wide receiver the next. "The skill sets it takes to run a 1 1/2 -mile track, a short track, a restrictor-plate track and then a road course are vastly different," he said.

As a result, winning at a road course for the first time would be an intense pleasure, he said.

That said, he's not sure a road course should be added to the season-ending 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup. A road-course race could turn into a "wreck-fest," he said. "A guy who runs third or fourth all day seems to get wrecked foolishly at the end of a race, and it's not his fault."

The Car of Tomorrow, a much sturdier and safer vehicle that NASCAR introduced in 2007, has brought a lot more aggressiveness to road-course racing, according to Keselowski. "You could make a lot more contact and get away with it," he said.